Hot Star Large Fried Chicken, Town Hall

Move over KFC – Hot Star Fried Chicken has just landed in Sydney!

The already popular Hot Star Large Fried Chicken shop is the latest example in the trend of fast food outlets from other parts of the world opening up shop on the narrow strip of real estate near World Square and we’re loving finally having these guilty pleasures in town.

Hot Star hails from Taiwan (the land of awesome street food) and certainly lives up to its heritage and its name by churning out seriously massive pieces of juicy fried chicken. I am not exaggerating when I say that each piece of chicken was bigger than my face…it was definitely at least bigger than my hand as you can see from the picture above!

Original Fried Chicken, $7.90

The process for creating each piece of Hot Star Large Fried Chicken involves the fresh chicken cutlet (not frozen) being marinated in their secret sauce first, before being coated in tapioca flour and then deep fried to crispy perfection. Once the chicken is fried, you can choose from either the Original Fried Chicken (which has some sort of pepper sprinkled on top) or varying levels of chilli powder to be liberally shaken onto it. We opted for one Original and one “Little Spicy” version to compare.

Little Spicy Chicken, $7.90

I was surprised on my first bite by my discovery that the batter wasn’t as crispy as it looked; the tapioca flour had made it rather chewy actually, but not in an unpleasant way. The Original version could do with some extra flavour, but the “Little Spicy” chilli seasoning on our other piece of chicken was addictive and not spicy at all! To Hot Star’s credit, both pieces of chicken were well cooked under all that batter – despite all that deep frying, the meat itself stayed succulent and tender. A word of caution for those who like to chow down on their chicken on the spot without using cutlery – the schnitzel-like chicken pieces do contain bones in some parts.

Mushrooms, $4.90 and Sweet potato, $3.90

In a further surprise, Hot Star’s side dishes were also quite impressive – particularly their Sweet Potato Chips which were quite soft and sweet inside, but still crunchy on the outside and sprinkled with some prawn powder. I also enjoyed their Deep Fried Mushrooms of the king oyster variety – again the batter exterior was crispy, in contrast to the juicy mushroom goodness within.

Hot Star’s Fried Chicken is the epitome of tasty Asian snack food and the huge crowd outside their small shop is already an indication of how Sydney has welcomed this new addition to the fast food scene in the city. My only words of advice are do not underestimate the size of the chicken pieces! I think 1 piece of chicken could easily feed 2 or 3 people for snacks and it’s best to save some room for their tasty sides too, rather than overdosing on fried chicken. Also the shop is takeaway only, so you’ll need to head over to Hyde Park or one of the many food courts in the Town Hall area to savour your fried chicken in peace.

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Excuse Me Waiter is a documented food and travel adventure run by two hungry Gen Y food fanatics DK & Yvn. Based in both Sydney and Tokyo, we're constantly on the search for the tastiest experiences, wherever it may be around the globe.